Spoiled Rotten
by Prologue
Summary: Van didn't want to be the only one left but as a human his survival instincts kicked in and he had stayed at the spot that he had crawled to between the pews. This was it, he would die here. He would either starve or get murdered by Frosty the snow man.


**A/N: This is a secret santa gift for Darkness. I hope you enjoy it because I wracked my brain on this thing for hours! This is probably one of the cleanest fics I've ever written too! Merry Christmas Darkness!**

**Unbeta'ed.  
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**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Spoiled Rotten  
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><p>Eyes wide and filling with tears he refused to shed, Van couldn't stop himself from cowering back into the shadows of the church behind a large row of pews up near the alter. They were gone, they were all gone. He was the only one left and he could hardly stand it. He didn't even know what to do. He bit his lower lip hard to keep himself from crying in fear.<p>

He had seen it, he had seen it with his own eyes and it was real. He didn't think it would be, he thought Heath had been lying at first, but it was real and for some ungodly known reason it was after them, it wanted them. It had been merciless. It had been expeditious. It had been flawless. It had taken them each down one by one…and it was something no one expected on a chilly Christmas Eve.

And it had all started with Miss Molly putting a spare carrot on that snow man that appeared in front of her house… Perhaps she didn't know that the one of the few carrots that she stored in her refrigerator would expire the next day turning the animate snow man as rotten as the vegetable attached to its face. Regardless, the snow creature had not been seen since that day.

Miss Molly was a sweet woman, always laughing, always giving us baskets of her very own picked fruits and vegetables, always doing good deeds, always caring about everyone. He had heard his mother and father say on many occasions that she was too kind, too giving. He had always heard the saying 'No good deed goes unpunished' but he had never taken it quite this literally before.

He could hear a scratching at the window outside of the hospital building that his father ran and owned and he nearly let out a gasp, covering his mouth.

Poor Matt, he had just been trying to fish out by the entrance of Flute Field. His parents always wanted him home before dark but this time he was sure that he would catch a good one…and Van was certain that he was just too lazy to get up once he had sat down. He had been the first one, the first victim. No one had been there to see it happen, but Heath had been on one of his many exploring adventures when he came across Matt…

His fishing pole was no longer in his hand, and the boy no longer held a laid back smile. Instead, the boy laid face down by the edge of the water. His beloved fishing pole had been planted firmly into the ground by the hilt and the small boy had been impaled on it. He later had told Van there was red everywhere, dripping from Matt's lifeless corpse, melting the snow all around him and running a small stream into the water creating a long strip of blood. He looked away for a moment when he thought he heard the snapping of a twig not too far behind him and turned for only a moment and when he looked back all that remained was that trail of blood and the steaming snow around it.

It had taken a while for Heath to figure out what to do, who to tell. He couldn't have told one of the grownups, they would never believe such a story. They would ask him what had gotten in to him and why he had been making up such lies. Maybe even punish him so it only made sense to Van that he went to him. Heath wasn't stupid. He was actually second in class next to Van himself.

"I don't have a clue what happened to him. He was there one minute and then he was gone!" Heath explained impatiently after he had pulled Van down to where he had found Matt's bloodied body. He pointed to the spot impatiently.

Even Van had to admit, Heath looked completely frightened. He was rather pale and his eyes were wide. The young explorer kept wincing and shivering every time he looked in that direction, and his eyes would shift uncomfortably, like he couldn't look there very long.

Van let out an irritated sigh. "I don't see anything. I'm going to go down and look. If anything happens go get my father immediately." He warned, eyes narrowing as the green headed boy stuck his thumb between his teeth nervously.

"Ah-well…I think I should go with you- you know…just in case-"

"In case of what?"

The two boys froze at the gentle sounding voice behind them and they knew it was the lavender haired daughter of Miss Candace and Mister Julius before they had to turn and look into those whimsical and dreamy eyes of hers.

"Angie!" Heath shouted, gritting his teeth as I turned to the girl. Van tilted his head and watched the interaction as the explorer continued. "What are you doing here? It's getting dark out! It's not safe for girls to be out at this time of the night!"

Eyebrows furrowing, Angie put her hands on her hips and frowned defiantly at the boy. "Is that so?" She turned her head away, irritation rolling off of her in waves. "Says who? I almost always come out here to do some fishing with Matt before bed time." Then the girl grinned and stuck her thumb out. "And sometimes I catch some really good ones!" She beamed.

"That so…" Heath trailed off, crossing his arms and looking away, seemingly uninterested. "Well you need to go back inside. Spend the night in your mom and dad's bed; tell them you want to snuggle tonight or something. Just stay inside Angie."

She rolled her eyes. "You are so weird Heath. I promise I won't fall and skin my knees or anything."

"Enough." Van said with a drawn out sigh, brushing a hand through his hair. "I'm going down there with or without you Heath. The sun is going to set soon and we will not have time to look if we just stand around and waste time up here."

"N-no! I'm coming with you! You can't go down there alone!"

Van began to walk passed his friends, hands in his pockets and eyes closed in annoyance as he headed towards the dirt path that lead down to the water side. "Then Angie will be alone up here. You know her, she isn't going to listen to you."

"I can be the lookout for you guys! Hey…what are you doing down there anyways?"

Van sighed once more, he usually had patience but he was hungry and from so high up he could not see a thing, moreover he felt like this could be some sort of trick that the two boys were playing and if it were he would not be amuse, not in the least bit. "Looking for Matt."

He heard her gasp and turned his head to see the girl covering her mouth. "Is he hurt?"

"He could be, we won't know until we go down there and look."

Her face turned gravely and she nodded her head in response, fists clenching at her sides. "I'll stay up here and watch. You guys go down there and I'll tell you if I see anything suspicious."

It hadn't taken long for the two boys to trek their way down the path that lead to where Heath had earlier seen Matt's body, but when they got down there they had seen no evidence of the fishing pole. If there had once been a stream of blood it had been replaced by a new sheet of snow and when Heath pointed to the spot he thought the boy had been, Van bent down and dug in the snow, much to Heath's horror.

"That was dirty Van!" Heath chided as they walked up the dirt path back to the bridge where Angie was waiting for them. The whole entire time they had been down below, Heath had been watching her like a hawk. Van supposed he could understand Heath's dilemma if this whole situation was true.

Van shrugged his shoulders in response, eyes gazing forward as the last of the sun rays shown over the mountain tops. "Well we had to see if any evidence was still there. My father deals with that sort of stuff all the time, so why would it be any different for me?"

"Hey! Do you think we should check it the water wheel? Do they leave it unlocked at night?"

"One way to find out," Van turned the heavy iron handle on the door and he heard it click open before pulling the door and feeling it jerk as the sound of a chain tightened prohibiting the door from opening any further than a few inches.

"Can you see inside?"

"Just barely…" He muttered, squinting. There was no noise, no movement, nothing, just dead space in the ever darkening room. "I don't think there's anything in here."

He felt Heath stiffen. "You don't think Matt is-"

A ear piercing, blood curdling scream ripped through the air and both boys jerked away from the door and looked at the place on the bridge where they had left Angie. The girl's form was nowhere.

Heath was the first one stampeding his way back up the dirt path faster than Van had ever seen him move, the boy looked panicked and Van knew something was most definitely not right about this Christmas Eve night. He should be at home with his family, having dinner but instead he was investigating disappearances and possible psychotic murders. How in the name of the Goddess does this sort of stuff even happen?

He ran after his friend, eyes trained on the road ahead of him and by the time he caught up with Heath on the bridge, he found the green haired boy bent over on the road, rocking himself. He could have sworn his could hear light sobs. "H-Heath?" He asked, beginning to feel an uneasiness in the pit of his stomach as he came to stand behind his friend.

He didn't respond, instead he held up something he had been clutching onto tightly and Van's eyes widened. In the palm of his hand was a blood stained lavender lock of hair and Angie was nowhere in sight. Heath had stood up and began to scream the girls name then, hysterically, so loud that Van knew her parents would hear so he did the only thing he could think of, he slapped his hand over Heath's mouth.

"Quiet!" He growled out. "Do you want to send everyone into hysterics? Worse of all her parents?" Heath shook his head in response. "Good, now let's go back into town. Maybe the Wizard will know something of what is going on."

They had walked back to town and Heath hadn't said one word until they were crossing the bridge that lead back into the large village. "I liked her a lot." He admitted, ringing his hands together. "And now she's gone."

"Heath-"

"No! Whatever got Matt got Angie! You know it!"

"I don't-"

"Stop it! Stop trying to be so rational and calm all the time about everything. It's not alright! Something is wrong here, something is happening to us one by one!"

The two were about to pass the Mayor's office when they noticed the door was open slightly ajar and the lights were out. They could barely see the warm glow of the candle that was usually lit on the end of the mayor's desk flickering. It was dark now, passed the time the mayor usually closed down the office and went home.

Under Heath's instructions the two went in. It was dark and that feeling of uneasiness only intensified in the pit of Van's stomach as they took in the wreck that the orderly mayor's office usually was. It was in complete disarray. Books were strewn everywhere and the floor was a soppy wetness that made their feet squish with every step. He couldn't help it, "What happened here?" He asked, looking around the room, the feint glow of the candle barely being enough to see the entire room.

Heath walked over to one of the book cases which had fallen over, heavy books lay beneath it in a pile and an odd smell of old books filled the air like never before. Heath picked a book up and tossed it to the side. "This is awful, who would break into the mayor's office?"

"Probably quite a few people…" Van deadpanned and Heath shot a glare back at him at his picked up another book. "Reasonably speaking of course. Someone who wants a deed to some land, or someone who can't afford their rent, maybe someone from another island…" He was counting the possibilities off on his fingers when he heard Heath cry out and then a thump as he fell backwards. His eyes shot to his friend as he crawled backwards and as far away from the fallen bookshelf as possible.

Beneath it was a crushed blond girl, only the side of her face uncovered but it was badly bruised and cut and there were gashes all over her skin. Next to her lay a white flower pin and Van's eyes grew large. "Vivian…what…is happening?" And where had all the adults gone? Usually at this time of the night even, the grownups were still all over the place. It was almost like they had stepped into a ghost town, the inhabitants mysteriously disappearing and being killed off one by one.

Van was sure he had read a book like this once…

"This wasn't an accident Van." Heath muttered out, lips turned into a deep sneer. "Someone is doing this to all the kids. Maybe all the adults too, who knows?"

"This can't be real. There is no way that this could happen in our sleepy town. I refuse to believe this is real…" Van growled out, covering his spectacled eyes and letting out a worn heavy sigh. "Three of our friends have either disappeared or been killed in the last three hours Heath! Tell me how this happens and I will start believing you!"

"I don't know!" He screamed back. "I don't know Van! Sometimes things happen that aren't logical, that you can't explain!"

"But this is too much…this is…"

Heath stood up and encroached on his friend, pinning him to the wall and growling as he shook him. "This isn't the time to have a meltdown Van! We need to see if Lucy and Roy are alright! They're way up in the mountains…we'll have to take the old mine cart to get there quickly…" He was scratching under his chin thoughtfully.

"Does that really seem safe to you? Does that seem like the best-"

Before he was able to get the words out, Heath had covered his mouth, hushing him and remaining completely still. That's when Van heard it, the crunching sound of footsteps in the snow. Someone was running towards the town from where they had just come from and they were getting closer and closer to the mayor's office. He stiffened, eyes widening before panic took over him, the need for survival and he began to struggle against his stronger friend's grip.

"Stop it!" Heath hissed between his teeth. "Do you want to get found out?"

"IS ANYBODY THERE?"

They knew that shout anywhere, despite how hysterical it sounded and the two pulled apart and bonded out of the large office to see Lucy running towards the church. "Lucy!" Heath shouted and ran after her. Van took one last look at Vivian's battered up form before heading after his friend.

The girl stopped and turned to look at the two of them, a sudden relief filling her hectic eyes. "I saw it! I saw it and it got Roy! It killed Roy! He's gone! I saw it! I saw it kill Roy!" She was crying, gasping and holding onto her chest and it seemed as though she had ran all the way down from Garmin Mine in her state of terror. "Roy's gone! He's dead! It killed Roy!"

"Angie and Matt too, maybe ever Vivian…" Van added. Four. That was four of their friends gone, dead.

"That's not helping Van!" Heath grit his teeth. "What happened Lucy? What was it?"

The normally spunky girl shook her head. "It came after us and Roy was trying to protect me. I don't know what happened because he told me to run. I just heard him screaming and the sound of ripping and I couldn't look back. I know he's dead, I can feel it." She gripped at her chest painfully, tears dripping down her cheeks in her grievance.

"I know its hard Lucy, but I need you to calm down for a moment. What did it look like?"

"It looked like-like that!" She cried out and the boys turned around just in time to see a large snow man moving at a great speed heading up the hill towards them. It's eyes were beady and black, angry looking and it wore a red scarf. It's arms were made out of sharp and pointy twigs with many bristles on them. But the thing that stood out the most was the rotten carrot that hung where its nose was, turning a gross brown looking color and Van found himself backing up slowly, eyes wide in shock.

"H-how is that even possible?" He had heard of Frosty the snow man, but this was ridiculous.

"Who cares? Let's get to the Wizards place, fast!"

"No the church!" Lucy shouted as they began to run, Lucy in front and Heath behind the other two as the murderous snow man rapidly caught up to them.

Van heard the sound of Heath slipping in the slick snow behind him and he turned to look at his friend, stopping in his tracks, eyes full of fear. He couldn't lose Heath too, he had been with Heath through this whole thing. He couldn't lose Heath. "What are you waiting for idiot! Go!" Heath shouted.

"No! I-I can't-"

"Forget about me, protect Lucy! She needs you right now."

"Heath…"

"Go!"

He gave his friend one last pained look before running towards the church. He was so close, nearly there and he could see Lucy opening the church doors not so far ahead of him. He couldn't hear anything over the wind rushing in his ears and the sound of his own heart pounding so loudly he thought it may explode. When they were safe inside, door slammed behind them, they ran to the alter and huddled by the wall. "Hey Lucy…why the church?"

"My daddy always told me it was a place where no evil could enter." She replied, biting her bottom lip and looked down. "All the grownups are gone so I doubt Wizard is even here. This place just seemed like the safest place to go. It was the first place I thought of when Roy was sacrificing himself for me."

"Just like Heath…" Van's head fell to the thought of his friend and he grit his teeth, fists clenching as he felt the need to punch something and hard. "Just what the hell…was he thinking? I could have helped him. The three of us could have made it in here together…" He felt something fogging up his eyes, felt a heat building and he knew they were tears but he would not shed them, he refused to shed them.

"He wanted to save you." Lucy gave him a soft smile. "He didn't want you to risk your life for him…"

Van didn't respond, instead he pulled his legs up to his chest and rest his forehead against it, sighing out heavily. Every now and then he'd look around or over at Lucy who seemed as alert as he was. "Didn't they used to say that this church was haunted?" He shivered to the thought. He had never believed in such superstitions but now his mind was more open to such things. Now that he had seen a real live killer snow man.

"Yeah, there used to be the sound of child crying. But there hasn't been for like a year now. So no one believes its haunted anymore. We've been in here a while now though and I haven't heard anything so I'm going to go peek out the front door." The girl made a move to stand up and he gripped her wrist tight, eyes narrowing on her.

"Don't go."

She laughed and flicked her shoulder length hair back. "Don't worry, I won't leave the church so I'll be fine. It could be gone now anyways."

He had felt uncomfortable about it and he knew that he shouldn't have let her go. It was unsettling and if there was one thing he definitely learned about this long long night it was to follow his gut instinct. But he had watched her back grow farther and farther as she walked down the long aisle and towards her own death. He was still trying to pry the image out of his mind of one of the fence posts impaling her chest as soon as she opened the door and dragging her out.

It was out there and it knew he couldn't stay in the church forever and it wanted him just like it got all the rest of his friends, maybe even the rest of the town. He wanted to give in, he wanted to give up. Van didn't want to be the only one left but as a human his survival instincts kicked in and he had stayed at the spot that he had crawled to between the pews. This was it, he would die here. He would either starve or get murdered by Frosty the snow man.

At least he was able to accept it! At least he would be with his family and friends, at least-

"Van! Hey wake up Van! It's time to go get ready for school. Usually you never sleep in like this. What has gotten in to you? Get up you lazy boy!"

The raven haired boy sat up in his bed and rubbed his amber eyes before putting on his glasses and looked into his mother's face. "M-mom? What day…is it?"

"It's Christmas Eve day. You have class today, it's a short day though, remember?"

Van nodded a groggy head and groaned. Well…at least he knew everything was back to normal, that all his friends and family were alive and that he had just had some horrible nightmare. But there was one thing Van knew for certain.

He would never look a snow man the same.

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><p>AN: Just as a side note I personally am a huge Chase shipper so that is why Dakota is not in this fic because she does not exist! Once again Merry Christmas!


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